There is an acute need in the industry to provide container and box arrangements to store and hold articles in a pickup truck bed. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. to Whatley, No. 4,531,774; to West, 4,936,624; and to Waters, 4,967,944, show just a few of the proposed schemes for pickup truck mounted boxes and associated mounting structures.
The theft of valuable articles from vehicles is an ever increasing reality of modern life. Thieves are particularly attracted to certain types of valuable articles. For example, many persons desire to keep sporting good articles, such as rifles, shotguns, and fishing rods, in a vehicle at all times ready for use. Such sporting goods are particularly attractive targets for thieves and, due to their elongated size, cannot be effectively hidden (for example by covering with clothing), in a vehicle which does not have a securable trunk space.
The need for providing secure storage in a pick up truck, or other vehicle without a truck space, is recognized in the art. Even further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,897 to Wright provides a lockable storage compartment for use in a vehicle cab; thus recognizing the need for secure storage even inside a locked vehicle compartment. Disadvantageously, the Wright reference is unusable for storage of elongated, generally flat sporting goods such as rifles and fishing gear. Also, the device disclosed in the Wright reference does not effectively protect articles from damage due to impacts and provides inadequate protection from the weather if it were ever mounted exterior of the vehicle cab.
Disadvantageously, the previously available storage devices provide inadequate security from theft, do not sufficiently protect valuable articles from damage, and/or are inconvenient to use. In view of the forgoing, it would be an advance in the art to provide a vehicle mounted storage box with a secured compartment for holding and protecting valuable sporting goods and other such articles from theft and damage and which is convenient to use.